GANGUBAI KATHIAWADI did good business over its first weekend as it collected 37.50 crore nett doing good business at most places and decent North. The North should be able to make up ground from today as Delhi night shows come into play and at 100% the occupancy. The occupancy will not matter much as weekday occupancy is well short of 50% anyway.

The best business for the film has come in Nizam/Andhra and Mumbai circuit but the biggest plus for the film is the business outside metros. The collections are not huge but centres like Ahmedabad, Jaipur and Indore as well as smaller cities like Gwalior, Amravati and Latur have all performed much better than you would expect for a heroine orientated film.

The weekend business is a huge plus for the industry as slowly it goes towards normalcy but for the film itself it needs to sustain well over the weekdays where the holiday on Tuesday will help. This weekend ensures the film will be a success but a much needed HIT is the result that would bolster confidence.  

The flow of releases is limited still and GANGUBAI KATHIAWADI should benefit from it. There is THE BATMAN releasing next week but that is only one film and there are no holdovers competing for screens. This situation will change in a few weeks as many more films will compete for screen space on a weekly basis.

The first weekend business of GANGUBAI KATHIAWADI is as follows.

Friday - 9,75,00,000 apprx

Saturday - 12,50,00,000 apprx

Sunday - 15,25,00,000 apprx

GANGUBAI KATHIAWADI has emerged the top opener in United Kingdom post the pandemic as it records close to £250k beating SOORYAVANSHI and '83. The collections of the film even compare well with films released in 2019 as it collected more than many of the major releases in 2019.

Sanjay Leela Bhansali as a director has clout in the traditional Overseas markets be it US and UK especially among the Gujarati female population and this has worked again for the film. Bhansali and a top female star works well with this audience.

The top ten opening weekends in United Kingdom since 2019 are as follows.

1. Bharat - £355,495

2. Good Newwz - £295,717

3. Kalank - £280,654

4. War - £254,906

5. Total Dhamaal - £250,601

7. Gully Boy - £235,479

8. Housefull 4 - £234,480

9. Dabangg 3 - £215,664

10. Sooryavanshi - £210,574 (post pandemic)

The film has done very well in Overseas with collections set to be in the $2.50 million range with only Gulf being the disappointment with lower collections. The worldwide collections of the film for the first weekend will be 62-63 crore apprx.

GANGUBAI KATHIAWADI has scored an worldwide weekend of 65 crore which is the highest ever for a female lead film. It has beaten VEERE DI WEDDING in India and Overseas which was a smaller film but was a pre pandemic release with normal conditions. Here with GANGUBAI KATHIAWADI, the box office is just starting up again and is not optimum.

The Overseas numbers will be in the $2.75 million range as USA/Canada gets $1.1m apprx, United Kingdom is £250k apprx, Australia is A$375 and Gulf collects around $450k. The film saw a ban in Bahrain and Qatar which affected the Gulf business of the film. The film is looking to score very well in US/Canada and is set for a very strong run in that market.

The approx worldwide business of film will be as follows.

India - 44,50,00,000 (GROSS)

Overseas - 20,50,00,000 ($2.75m)

TOTAL - 65,00,00,000

For a comparison, SOORYAVANSHI was 117 crore and '83 was 78 crore but these were far bigger films and holiday releases; so, GANGUBAI KATHIAWADI getting 65 crore worldwide is very good. The next best in 2021 was ANTIM - THE FINAL TRUTH which was just 29 crore and GANGUBAI KATHIAWADI is way ahead of that.